1. 1. The Vine - #6 - More Fruit John 15:2 If you read lesson five in this series, you noticed that there are two main categories of fruit that are talked about over, and over in the Bible. The seven fruits of the Holy Spirit is one (Galatians 5:22), and the fruits of our labors for God (souls saved By His Grace) is the other of the two major categories continually taught. The San Francisco Newspaper called SFGate.com has a regular series that they provide for their audience. Live link #1 below will take you to that series. However, I have provided the following quotes from one particular article dealing with the 'work of the husbandman' that he must do every spring to insure that the fruit of the branches will not only be healthy, but will produce a more perfect fruit. Grapes require a significant amount of annual pruning to remain healthy. While most of the pruning is completed in late winter when the grapevine is dormant, a spring trimming is essential to good fruit production. As the new vines vigorously sprout from the canes, spurs or trunk, careful management is necessary to prevent the grapevine from growing into a crowded, twisted mass of [branches] and foliage. The grapes require both sunlight and good air circulation as they develop into plump, juicy, sweet fruits.
2. 2. Trim the newly sprouting vines after examining them carefully. Remove all the excess sprouts from the trunk except the canes or spurs that you selected during the late winter pruning. Select one [branch] per node on the spurs or canes. Remove any other [branches] on that node to prevent a crowded mass of [branches] from developing and overwhelming the arbor or trellis. Remove suckers as they develop. These [non fruit baring branches] rapidly grow vertically from the established, older canes, often shading the fruiting vines. Let's watch this short video (3:31) from the Winemaker's Journal showing one of the many things that the earthly husbandman does to help the branches of the vine bare more, and better fruit! See the live link #2 at the bottom of this piece to go to the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--Hfol2AEOk The positioning of the branches by the husbandman of the vineyard is important. The branches can crowd each other and detract from the development of the fruit on all of them. A good example of this lesson is that Jesus sent His disciples out by twos on missions of mercy to the world.
3. 3. He didn't send the whole bunch of them together. This allowed them all to benefit from the personal experience of witnessing for Him. If He had sent them all together, then the most outspoken of the group would have been the only ones gaining the maximum benefit from the experience. There's no doubt that they all would have gained SOME benefit, but not to the extent that The Husbandman desired. God certainly knows what we all need, and Jesus knew exactly which ones to pair up together. Remember that Jesus (The True Vine) always did exactly what God, His Father (The True Husbandman) wanted Him to do. Another thing that the True Husbandman does is He removes things from our lives that we don't need; things that would just get in the way of our development in baring fruit. If we allow Him to do it, we are promised that the fruit we bare will be greater and sweeter than it otherwise could be. So, how does that 'shake out' in real life? John 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it [cleans it up, or prunes it], that it may bring forth more fruit. We discovered in many previous videos that the Husbandman removes the branches that bare no fruit. The first part of this verse can be likened to God removing certain people from our lives that He knows would have a negative impact on His plans for us. When you experience the genuine life saving friendship with God that is freely available to ALL of us, you will notice that certain 'friends' disappear out of your life. They aren't interested in God.
4. 4. Sometimes, that can be a painful experience to go through based upon the love we have for these people, but when we view life through the 'magnifying glass' of Faith, (Romans 8:28) ...we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. There is another thing that the husbandman does that almost made me jump up and shout... NOOOOOOO! ...when I first saw it! Let's take a look at this short (4:51) video. Live link #3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2caNI3OS6aQ We noticed here that the earthly husbandman even removes some of the fruit that the vine is producing in order for the remaining fruits to bare bigger, better and sweeter fruit. The husbandman knows, based upon the 'strength of the branch' that too much fruit can break the branch off of the vine completely. A lesson we can take from this is that the branch with too much fruit is focusing on the fruit, instead of the lifesaving connection to the vine, and the fruit caused it's demise. Even good fruit can cause us to lose our connection to Jesus if we begin to focus on the fruit! If we fail to understand that the fruit isn't ours, but is produce solely from our connection to Jesus, then we will always be happy with the fruits that God has blessed us with. The sweetest fruit of all is the person that is introduced to a life saving relationship with Jesus! When that happens, as a result of our inability to stop bubbling over with the love of God in our lives, then we will receive the reward that God has promised to those who are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. I want to be there in the land where all things have been made new; where there is no more pain and suffering, & no more sin. Make sure that you are there with me! We'll hang out for an eternity of amazing things that will never grow old. We'll NEVER run out of exciting things to learn & to do! We'll be writing the second chapter in our book of life. Don't allow the first chapter to be the last chapter in YOUR BOOK!
5. 5. Live link #1 http://homeguides.sfgate.com/trim-grapes-spring-43450.html How to Trim Grapes in the Spring Live link #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--Hfol2AEOk The Importance of Shoot Positioning Live link #3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2caNI3OS6aQ Thinning Grapes, Dropping Fruit, From 3rd Leaf Grape Vines
6. 6. Live link #1 http://homeguides.sfgate.com/trim-grapes-spring-43450.html How to Trim Grapes in the Spring Live link #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--Hfol2AEOk The Importance of Shoot Positioning Live link #3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2caNI3OS6aQ Thinning Grapes, Dropping Fruit, From 3rd Leaf Grape Vines